there are some people who do not want reform, security and stability in syria. and neither civil peace nor dialogue. there are people who want to destroy syria, to make up for their defeat in iraq. and syria is a partner in defeating the americans in iraq. >> sreenivasan: the syrian government has come under growing pressure from new sanctions imposed by the u.s., the european union and the arab league. and in egypt, the leader of the muslim brotherhood sought today to reassure egyptians and the world that his group would not try to "islamicize" the government. instead, he insisted the brotherhood remains committed to democracy. his group-- and a separate, hard-line islamist faction-- dominated the first round of egypt's parliamentary elections. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to gwen. >> ifill: next tonight, a second day of political protests in russia. jonathon rugman of independent television news narrates this report. >> reporter: tonight's crowds were not huge. on one side, a few hundred opponents of vladimir putin who accuse him of try